Pieter Schoenmaker, an Anabaptist martyr, burned at the stake at Rijssel (Lille) in France on 16 March 1563. Pieter, a native of Eecen, Flanders, whose official name was Pieter Meynghers, son of Josse van Gheldere, was a shoemaker by trade. On 7 March 1563, a number of Mennonites of Halewijn (Halluin) were arrested including the preach­er Jan de Swarteand his family, and also Pieter Schoenmaker and his wife Jacomijntgen. They were all conducted to Rijssel, and tried, sentenced, and executed there. Pieter and all the others remained steadfast except Jacomijntgen, who recant­ed.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 665. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.